There have been various types of travelling toys which use magnetism to guide a toy body along a path on a board. Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho-36-12938 discloses an example of one such prior art travelling toy.
In the Sho-36-12938 publication, a travelling toy body follows a guide path which is made from a plate of a non-ferromagnetic material having embedded therein a ferromagnetic material, in the form of wire or tape. The travelling toy body of the Sho-36-12938 has front and rear wheels. The front wheels are attached to an axle. The axle includes a vertical swing shaft which pivotally connects the front axle to the toy body, and a forwardly (horizontal) projected arm. A magnet is disposed along the remote end of the projected arm.
In operation of the toy of the Sho-36-12938 publication, as the toy body moves forward, the magnet at the most forward end of the projected arm is attracted to the ferromagnetic guide path, and moves the arm horizontally, side to side, as the direction of the path changes. The side-to-side movement of the arm causes the front axle to move about the swing shaft, and in turn, causes the front wheels to direct the toy body along the guide path.
There are problems with the above-described prior art travelling toys. Among these problems is the inability of the prior art toy body to follow a sharply curved guide path, or a path having many close opposing turns. If the guide path is formed with many small radius turns or turns directed to the right, for example, then to the left, then to the right, etc., the driven toy body of the prior art cannot react quickly enough to follow the path and invariably will leave the guided path altogether and wander guidelessly across the travel board.
An object of the invention is to provide a magnetically guided travelling toy which overcomes the above-described problems.
Another object of the invention is to provide a magnetically guided travelling toy that may be driven along a sharply curved guide path on a travel board.
Another object of the invention is to provide a magnetically guided travelling toy which is compact and simple in construction and easy for a child to operate and handle.